Prevalence of Autonomic Neuropathy in Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetic autonomic neuropathy is a serious and common complication of diabetes whose significance has not been fully appreciated. In this study, 50 non-cardiac diabetic patients were randomly selected to serve as cases and subjected to a standardized protocol of history, examination and a battery of autonomic function tests. 70% of them tested positive for autonomic dysfunction with its incidence increasing in direct proportion with increasing duration of the disease as well as with increasing hyperglycemia. An increase in the severity of autonomic dysfunction was also observed with high blood glucose levels. However no significant correlation of incidence with age and sex of the patient or type of the diabetes were established. The present study may help to appreciate the significance of diabetic autonomic neuropathy and its early detection as the same can encourage both the patient and the physician to improve metabolic control and use therapies such as Angiotensin- converting enzyme inhibitors, α- Lipoic acid and β- blockers proven to be effective with cardiac autonomic neuropathy.